Jallow puts Danbury up 1-0 2 minutes in to second half #ctbsoc pic.twitter.com/TkR4dNqDmt
— Scott Ericson (@EricsonSports) September 17, 2018
DANBURY — After what he considered a lackluster first half from his team, Danbury boys soccer coach Anthony Howard challenged his team at halftime, urging them to be more aggressive and play more as a cohesive unit.
It did not take long for the Hatters to heed Howard’s advice, breaking the scoreless deadlock by scoring three times in the first 14 minutes of the second half en route to a convincing 5-1 win over rival Ridgefield Monday afternoon.
“I didn’t think it could get any worse because that first half was really, really bad. Sloppy and not ready to play and not up for the game and the first half was not good enough,” Howard said. “I spoke to them at halftime, said what I needed to say and they responded. They are kids and that’s all you want is for them to respond and they came out great in the second half.”
Danbury actually missed a scoring opportunity 30 seconds into the second half when a shot went just wide to the left of goal.
The Hatters would not let any more opportunities go by the boards as Mallomin Jallow found the back of the net, beating the keeper to his left 1:20 into the half.
Danbury with a great opportunity but turned away 10 minutes in #ctbsoc pic.twitter.com/yfEPCc6Bu6
— Scott Ericson (@EricsonSports) September 17, 2018
Ten minutes later, Danbury would strike again on an absolute rocket from 35 yards out by fullback Tyler Warren, firing the ball into the upper right corner of the net.
The goal was the first of the junior’s varsity career in his third year on the team.
“That’s actually my first goal. My first goal is a 30-something-yard volley. It felt great,” Warren said. “The first half was not great even though we didn’t let in any goals. Once we started talking, we were able to get the ball and it was easy to break them down by combining in the middle and working up top. There was so much more energy (than) in the first half. Coached ripped us at halftime and in the second half we came out with a lot of energy and put up five on them.”
Jallow would score again, making it 3-0 and the Hatters would add late goals by Thiago Desousa and Alex Beiku.
Ridgefield got a goal late in the half from Tristan Brandt.
Ridgefield has allowed 11 goals the last two games after falling to Trumbull 6-2 last week.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Mallomin Jallow, Danbury. Jallow was electric up top for the Hatters in the second half, using his speed and on-the-ball skill to break down the Tigers defense for two goals.
QUOTABLE
“From the angles I saw, we made the pressing and stepping difficult for ourselves and we let them through that way,” Ridgefield coach Phil Bergen said. “We are a new team and we are trying to work out some kinks but that is taking longer than we hoped. We need to fix the pressing and the stepping. It was an even game except they had a hunger and will to score against us.”
Sericson
@stamfordadvocate.com;
@EricsonSports
DANBURY 5, RIDGEFIELD 1
RIDGEFIELD 0 1—1
DANBURY 0 5—5
Records: Ridgefield 2-2-0; Danbury 2-0-2
Goals: R—Tristan Brandt; D– Mallomin Jallow 2, Tyler Warren, Thiago Desousa, Alex Beiku. Assists: D—Carlos Rodriguez. Goalies: R—Ryan Sheafe 9 saves, Robert Buthorn 2 saves; D– Matt Silva 4 saves
